DUTY
by Sano Keisu
Summary: It's Ino's duty. Now and later on. In the war and after everything's settled. So ... Sasuke said that she can't die yet.


DUTY

I don't own Naruto. Naruto is Masashi Kishimoto's.

* * *

Now team 7 had reunited. Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke would continue to fight the enemies.

Actually, it was not only the three. There were still all the shinobi alliances who willingly to help them. After all, they had fought together til now. No excuse for retreating and left all of this fighting stuff to just one and only team 7.

At least, Yamanaka Ino won't back down. It's not like her role, her duty, her time had been over.

It's just the beginning.

Ino eyed the three of her comrades who were the Sannin's apprentices. First, there was Naruto. No doubt that that boy had become much stronger. He was no longer a loser. Everybody acknowledged him now. Both, as a son of a hero and as a hero himself.

And then, there was her best friend, as well as her rival. Haruno Sakura. Ino knew for a long time enough that Sakura had bloomed into a beautiful flower. Sakura was no longer a weak crybaby who needs Ino to defense herself. Ino smiled at this fact but the other side, she felt the urge to clench her fist. Ino won't lose to Sakura, no matter what.

Last but not least, there's him. A traitor who abandoned his village in his attempt for searching for power to kill his only one brother. That traitor now stood before her. Said that he wanted to be a Hokage—like Naruto did. It's funny, actually. Ino couldn't really accept it other than a joke. But, in other side, this was Uchiha Sasuke they talked about. And Sasuke never jokes.

"Ino," said a familiar voice. It's none other than her teammate—Nara Shikamaru. "Don't lose focus. I know it's your first encounter with _him_ after a long time and you're feeling really happy, but we have to win this war first." Shikamaru moved one step forward. "Besides, I can't trust him yet."

"Wait, Shikamaru, you don't think I'm losing my focus because I'm still a fangirl who's stunned by Sasuke's arrival, do you?" Ino replied—felt a bit offended.

Shikamaru raised his eyebrow. "Am I wrong?"

"I'm not stunned because of his presence," Ino said slowly, lowered her head a little. _But, well, I was looking at him before and I caught off guard by Shikamaru. _"It's not a matter anyway. I'm not losing my focus, okay?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "Hope so."

"So, what's the plan?"

They both looked at the enemy they had to fight. The enemy now didn't look that it can cause any harm. But looked like it won't last long.

The seal that had been created by the four edo-tensei Hokages broke little by little. Juubi didn't stand silent and did nothing. It tried to break the seal and let itself free. It's only the matter of time til that enormous creature could slip away from the seal.

Naruto and others had to move fast. And the others shinobi alliance had to wait in their defensive state. Shikamaru left Ino's question in the air, as his hand formed a seal—ready whenever it was needed. Ino did the same—stayed in her position that was quite afar from the Juubi. She waited—she waited till there's a time for her to do her job again.

All the alliances gulped as Naruto and his teammates started to attack. As the Juubi succeed to free itself from the seal, Sakura did the move first. She knocked the ground til it's cracked and made the Juubi lose its balance. Then, Naruto smacked it with his rasen-shuriken from above. Juubi fell to the ground while Sasuke approached it with his sword ready to cut it down.

But Juubi was not that easily to be beaten up. It opened its mouth wider, to let the laser beam out. Sasuke was close to be hit by the laser when the Juubi suddenly changed its direction. As Sasuke tried to continue his attack, suddenly he realized something and withdrew his attack.

He pulled back slightly and then looked from his back. He had not much time to observe because Juubi seemed to attack again, forcing him to jump and avoid its attack in speed. While he dodged any of its attacks, Sasuke raised his eyebrow in confusion.

_Did Ino really use her shintenshin no jutsu on Juubi? Why Juubi doesn't look like it's moving under control?_

Juubi's attack was brutal and unpredictable. It succeed to force Naruto and Sakura kept the distance from him. So did Sasuke who's still wondering what was really happened. Naruto and Sakura didn't seem that they knew something. But Sasuke was taken aback when Sakura suddenly shouted.

"What happened? Has Ino gone back to her body?"

"Wait? You mean Ino is in its body again?" asked Naruto who, as usual, didn't really know what was going on.

Sakura looked to Shikamaru who now formed a seal and with other Nara tried to once again tied the Juubi. They tried to spare time til Ino could really control the Juubi.

"_Mendokuse na_," Shikamaru said, "she did it without even think twice." _Just because she assumed that Sasuke is in danger, I guess, _Shikamaru thought.

"Shikamaru, is Ino okay?" Chouji asked carefully. He gulped.

Shikamaru leered at Chouji who looked worried. Shikamaru faked a smile.

"Yeah. More or less."

"But, she—"

"Trust her, Chouji. She's not a weakling."

Then, Chouji didn't ask any further, knowing that his teammate needed a full concentration to keep his jutsu stable.

The four Hokages took this chance to create another seal, that they intended to be twice or even third times stronger than the last. But, before they could do it, Juubi once again succeed to free itself from Nara's shadow binding and it tried to destroy the land where a lot of shinobi alliances was gathering.

Shikamaru and the other Nara and all of the shinobi alliances were getting ready to fly away to avoid Juubi's laser beam when Shikamaru then realized that Ino's body was still there, with no defense at all.

"IINOOO! GO BACK TO YOUR BODY! NOOOWW!" Shikamaru shouted from the top of his lung. And as he said that, he tried to run back to her body in case Ino couldn't make it in time. But then, Shikamaru heard someone shouted and his movement was restrained by a grab on both of his arms. Chouji who will do the same with Shikamaru also stuck with someone who didn't let him go.

"DON'T GO THERE! THINK OF YOURSELF!"

In her position, Sakura looked like she would go to Ino's place no matter what. But then her hand was grabbed by Naruto. While Sakura questioned him by just looking at him, Naruto freed Sakura's hand and in instant, he ran to Juubi to punch it the face with another rasen-shuriken.

Sakura gasped as the huge laser beam now rocketed to the sky and disappeared soon. Naruto looked to his father who gave him a relieved smile.

"Can't even relax a bit," Minato said as he and the other Hokages once again caged the Juubi in a seal. "Never let yourself unguarded."

Naruto smirked while Sakura hastily looked back to Ino's last position. From her place, she couldn't really make sure of it. She wanted to make sure that her best friend saved. But Naruto's voice stopped her from doing unnecessary thing.

"She is okay. Even though I can't make it in time to change the direction, I bet Sasuke can still save her."

Naruto gave her a reassurance smile, like he usually did. She hesitated a moment before she nodded. She knew, for a long time, she knew she can always trust Naruto. He won't lie and that way, Sakura knew that Sasuke really had saved her best friend. Seemed unbelievable, but there's no reason for not believing it either.

On the other hand, Ino made it to release her jutsu and go back to her body. Never crossed her mind that Sasuke will save her from being burned til there's no more left. But, here she was, in Sasuke's arm. Looking at each other; let the eyes studied one another.

Sasuke then let her stand in her feet again after a moment of silent. Ino gained her conscious again after a blink of confusion and disbelief.

"Thank you, Sasuke-kun," Ino said softly.

Actually, she thought that Sasuke will never care about her; he said it before that he doesn't really care with others. Furthermore, she never expected that he will try to save her. Of course she ever hoped that he can be her knight in shining armor, but her dream was stayed as a dream til now. She could feel her heart beating fast. She felt like she's falling in love again with the same guy. But, she couldn't allow herself to become complacent because of this.

"It's just a payback. You saved me first."

She knew it. Even so, what she thought she did was only _tried_ to save him. But he considered her as his savior. She felt like a bunch of butterflies dancing in her stomach. Slight blush colored her cheeks.

"Yeah. I … ummm …."

"Next time, don't do anything reckless. I can defend myself. Don't jump in my way," Sasuke said. It's quite harsh actually, but Ino didn't take it as a hatred toward her. Perhaps her feeling was trying to confuse her, but she could do nothing but smiled at him.

"Okay, I—"

"You still have another duty later on," Sasuke cut Ino's word—nearly whispered. "You can't die yet."

"Eh, what?"

Sasuke sighed. "Never mind. It's nothing." Sasuke threw his sight to Juubi which tried to break the seal.

He was ready to jump to where Naruto and Sakura was standing. But Ino's voice stopped him for a while.

"We'll win this war. And when it's over you owe me an explanation about my … another duty."

Sasuke glanced at her.

"So you can't die either."

Sasuke smirked. "I won't."

"Sure, you have to make it to Hokage's position, right?" Ino teased.

"It's just …." Sasuke squinted his eyes. "We have no time to talk now."

And Sasuke left her in her place. Ino touched her arm while she eyed Sasuke flew to his team. Her gaze was soft and in the same time, look puzzled. But the smile never leave her lips.

Until Shikamaru showed up beside her and asked her if she's okay. Ino nodded and gave Shikamaru another determination look.

"C'mon, Shikamaru. We have to do our job as a back-up team. For now …." Ino smiled while she clenched her fist, ready for another shot. "We have to win this war."

Shikamaru raised his eyebrow at first but then nodded in agreement.

And the fight continued.

* * *

THE END

* * *

Sorry for the grammatical error. English is not my first language actually, but I try my best to make it good. Any correction and suggestion will be accepted with an opened arms. But, be nice, please. :)

Review?


End file.
